Encounter #99: Wrestling just got real.

"Now with 8000% more chairs!" via With Leather. --RWK

Genius Marketing #29: Joker TV Spot

Watch it burn. I'm gonna, tomorrow, as soon as I get out of class. This thing is gonna make a billion dollars. Literally. --RWK

Genius Animated Marketing #28 LeBron : Yao :: Cowboys : Dragons

The odd Olympic marketing campaigns begin with this animated ditty from Coke pitting LeBron, American King, against Yao, Chinese Giant, in a fantastical cage match that makes little sense. And then they turn into the real dudes and speak each other's language. All because they both love Coke; and money. --RWK [via BDL]

Encounter #98: OJ good from 69 feet.

Via True Hoop's rather pointless but marginally fun Summer League: Midway Point Awards. A quote, too:

"I thought it wasn't going to make it to the rim," Mayo said. "I was surprised. After practices recently, we have been practicing half-court shots. I made a few there."

I'm thinking the Grizzlies will be a lot of fun to watch next season. Especially if they come to their senses and spend their cap money on Josh Smith. --RWK

Encounter #97: "I have to train."

No kidding, idiot. You got took -- HARD. I know he was once an Oakland A, a founding Bash Brother. But he's also a gigantic fool with no class and less brains. Not that I think Jack Cust is any better. But Cust didn't grab some limelight for an opportunistic buck (and change the image of baseball in the process); all Cust did was fall down and strike out a lot. --RWK

What Community? #47: The Google Reader

I realize I'm slow to catch on, but, well, this thing really is pretty cool. I've gone ahead and attached a widget to our sidebar, too, so I can promote things I dig. The picture above is from a quick search for reader. A lot of people seem to take stills of their readers... I do not plan on it. I plan on reading it. One of the coolest things so far is catching up with posts I missed over the past while of not being religious about this blogosphere. Not that I'm trying to dive back in and spend all too much time online again, but, well, it's kinda fun. If you care, which I doubt, you can read my selected, shared items here instead of scrolling down. --RWK

Encounter #96: Spazz

Yup: it's obnoxious. But the flicker effects and paint (sweat?) sprays are impressive. As is the unflagging commitment to un-pop from this incarnation of the Neptunes. --RWK [via NahRight]

Encounter #95: A Milli

I feel like Cuy should write his own essay about the odd appeal of Weezy but for now I just want to say I'm mostly fascinated by how plain weird a figure he has become. While, at the same time, not growing any taller. Only his muscles and ego and rep seem to get bigger (if not balloon). And he barely rhymes. Oh, and, yea, this is a terrible video. (An appropriately odd remix by Nadastrom can be found here.) --RWK